Tools

Accidental Courtesy

While it’s probably a lot easier to delete someone from your Facebook friends list who you don’t agree with politically than actually engage with them in a discussion about issues across today’s contentious landscape, that kind of passive aggressive action isn’t something that interests African-American musician and race relations activist Daryl Davis whether he’s online or off. Instead, Davis, 59, who has performed with legends such as B.B. King and Chuck Berry, would much rather set up a meeting and offer his friendship to those individuals whose ideals are on the opposite end of the spectrum as his. Most notably, Davis enjoys interacting on a personal level with members of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists in an attempt to alter their racist ideology. In his documentary film, Davis travels around the U.S. speaking with known racists and collecting historic KKK memorabilia. During a Reddit AMA session in September, Davis wrote: “Don’t be afraid to invite someone with a different opinion to your table. If everyone in your group agrees with one another and you shun those who don’t agree, how will anything ever change?”